Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-10-14
A SUMMER IN EGYPT.
Delights of Existence In the Land of thu
Nile--Ouick Springing Crops.


be less prevalent, perhaps, if it were not
fostered by foreign officials, who wish to
prove that they need three months
holiday every year. OF course, if man
begins the day with brandy and soda and
unlimited lemon squashes, followed up by !
a heavy lunch. and then retires beneath |
the mosquito curtains for siesta until . |
O'Clock, he will wake up unrefreshed. If |
he then calls carriage and is driven |
about till dinner time, he will probably |
only begin to feel alive about 10 o'clock. |
He will not feel disposed to retire until |
the small hours, and will waken in the !
morning as weary as when he went to
bed. This is matter Of course, for
which he should not blame the climate
much. Compared with Indian heat the
temperature of Egypt is refreshing; for,
however sultry the day may he, there is
long, cool night. The only real trial is
the length of the hot season. a couple
of months of more intense heat would be
much easier to bear than the steady,
gentle grilling from May to October.
But after all, an average temperature of
80 in the daytime out of doors-which
may be reduced to 80 in the large native
rooms-sinking some 10 degrees or Is
degrees at night, does not constitute
very formidable summer climate.
1t is interesting to study an entirely
different Egypt from that described by
the hundred and one authors who have
undertaken. at the solicitation of their
friends, a record of their experiences.
There is perpetual delight in watching
the slow and solid rise of the mighty Nile,
swollen by the rains in unexplored
lands beyond the equator, roll
ing along its thousands of miles
below khartoum without tribu-
tary, always giving to the thirsty fields
on either side, never receiving, but
ever flowing with daily increasing tide
truly one of the worlds greatest Won
ders. Gradually it fills the canals, and
mounting its banks, climbs softly up till
it laps over and floods the landscape, till
as far as the eye can reach from the river
bed Egypt is one great lake. The villages
with their clusters of palms lie dotted
here and there, like tiny islands in the
sea, and the fellah has time to cross his
hands and look on with silent pleasure at
the great Nile fructifying his acres with
rich mold from the heart of Africa.
Then as quickly or as slowly as it has
risen the river sinks, leaving stagnant
pools which the sun ticks up, and the
new layer of mud cracks into great
chasms dear to the heart of the cultivator
and ready for the quick springing crop.
The fresh growth is almost miraculous
in its rapidity. Where one week all that
that meets the eye is a muddy marsh
covered with waterfowl, ten days later
! the lovely tender green of the young
corn or berseen is covering the land.
Then the real work of the fellah COM
mences; which is to prevent too much
water lying on his acres, and yet to supply
| the requisite amount of moisture. The
pickax and shovel, the donkey and camel,
baby girl and the baby boy, all are
A.; pressed into service, till gradually the
proper supply is obtained and the crol
springs up victorious, a home for the
: winter flight of quail and carefully pre-
, pared hunting ground for the sportsman
Wild duck and other aquatic fowl re-
joice in the Nile flood, and a goodly f1ocl
of peicans are to be found. The summer
plumage of the 1-year-old birds is peculiar
" beautiful, the underside of each feather
being of a shell like rose color One birC
will give eighteen inches square of tho
most lovely feathers, and dozen skins
will make an opera cloak beautiful
enough to cause any womans eyes t.
glisten. Soon in lower Egypt the cottoi
fields are in full bloom, mass of glorious
yellow between gold and primrose color
whose blossoms mean money. Quickly
the color fades to the universal brown o.
the pods. till they break out again witt
the snowy fluff of ripeness and the cotton
- i'll, l,n1.l /,
not one in a hundred of visitors to tn,
, Nile land has ever seen cotton field il
y flower 1t is one of the sights reserveS
n for the summer martyrs.
v What the cotton plant is to the delt;
/. the sugar cane is to the country between
:. Cairo and Assouan. The cane is laiC
S down in the early summer in pieces O
l. about foot long. overlapping each othe
l. in the long burrows. Boys then wall
y along stamping down the ends and tn
II earth is turned over. The process o
e taking root does not require much time
, }, and when once the spikes appear abov
u ground they shoot up almost visibly. B.
:. the end of August the planters work
:, over, and he will tell you that there ar
% many worse places in which to spend tn
9 summer than Bibeh, Magagah or Erment
d The morning rides and the moonlit stroll
e. through the plantations would suppl
is material for sketching much less hack
rs neyed than mosques, pyramids an
camels.
e; Whatever Europeans may feel sum
i mer is the season the native really loves
"a In the winter he goes about with hi
a head wrapped up in multifarious shawlc
rs cursing the Franks who have brougf
~ rain and cold, and bemoaning his ow
n, hard lot The few piasters he can ear
= will not afford him fire, and his house
N if he has one is wretchedly bare. In tn
IS. summer he can sprawl about on tn
I'd ground in comfortable warmth all nigf
I'll long, and few beans in the pod or
h couple of yards of sugar cane and
sh pumpkin give him cheap and delicior
he meal Dust is better than mud for bar